Scotland’s quest to make the World Cup may already have been written off as pointless by some, but Darren Fletcher says the fact they didn’t leave Hampden pointless on Saturday may prove to be crucial.

The national side’s captain has been around long enough to know what the reaction to the disappointing draw with Lithuania would be, but he is positive that the dream to make Russia is well and truly alive.

Indeed, he believes that the point Scotland escaped with from a dispiriting night in Mount Florida on Saturday could be critical come the end of the campaign.

“It was disappointing to draw the game, but it could be a great point in the context of the group,” Fletcher said.

“The overriding feeling in the dressing room is disappointment but you’ve got to pick people up because we’ve drawn a game that everyone was speaking about as if we had to win because it was a home game.

“That’s why we didn’t want to go down the route of saying it was a must-win game, because what do we do, write off the rest of the group now? Of course we don’t. We pick ourselves up and we go again to Slovakia and then we go to Wembley.

“There’s still plenty of games to play. Slovakia are the second seeds and they haven’t got a point yet, so the next game is looking like a massive game in the group in the early stages.

“Before the group everyone knew how tight it was. We were in pot four and I think we were expecting there to be dropped points.

“You’d like to go through it and win every game to take you into the England games, but it doesn’t always happen like that, and being Scotland we never do things the easy way either.

“We’ve seen already Lithuania draw against Slovenia, Slovakia losing to Slovenia and Lithuania getting a point here.

“Everyone has started to take points off each other, so if we can come out of the head-to-heads with the better of it then we’ll probably be in a right good position come the end of the group.

“People are disappointed, we understand that. It’s been a long time since we qualified so they see results like this as real disappointments, but us as players can’t afford to get too disappointed.

“Yes, we’re disappointed not to win, but at the same time we’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly and keep a positive mind-set, because the group is far from over and we’re right involved it sitting in second place just now.

“You’ve got to take the positives that we kept battling, everyone kept wanting the ball, we kept putting it into the box and we kept fighting right to the end.”

After the match on Saturday night, there seemed to be a concerted effort from Scotland’s players to shift the pressure for tomorrow night’s massive clash in Slovakia onto the shoulders of the hosts.

Indeed, after a second loss in as many games, there may be some justification in their argument. Fletcher feels that the Scots have to use that to their advantage, with a chance to all but put the Slovakians out of contention with a win in Trnava.

“We know the situation is in hand,” he said. “To win it would be fantastic, but I don’t think a draw would be a disaster to go there and not let them win and get back into the group.

“But we go to win, there’s no doubt about that. As the second seeds in the group I think they’re under real pressure now with the game against us at home, and hopefully we can capitalise on that pressure and that home crowd nervous.

“We’ve done well away from home in the last campaign, and hopefully we can carry that forward.

“They’ve got no points. There’s no doubt about it that we’re disappointed about tonight, but we will pick ourselves up, try to remain positive, pick the young players up and we’ll go again.

“We’re still fighting, we’re still right in this group and there’s still a lot to play for.”

It is fair to say that the night when Fletcher collected his 75th cap for his country didn’t go entirely according to plan, both personally and for the side as a whole.

The midfielder was forced off at half-time with a dead leg, but he is hoping to be fit to lead Scotland into the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho tomorrow night.

“I hope so, I just need plenty of ice, rest and plenty of anti-inflammatories and see if I can make it,” he said.

“It’s a dead leg and it seized up and I couldn’t move. When you come in at half-time and you stop running it seizes up even more.

“You can be brave and go out at 80% but are you doing yourself and the team justice? It’s a hard thing to do but sometimes you have to get a fit player on.

“We’ve got a good squad, but nobody needs an 80% player out there, we need everyone at 100%.

“Getting my 75th cap was great. It’s a disappointing result, but you can’t legislate for it, these things happen.

“You’ve got to use a sensible head and think of the team rather than yourself.”